iTunes to offer 90-second track previews

As CNet reports, Apple has informed record labels that iTunes music previews would triple to 90 seconds for customers in the United States. The email that Apple sent to the labels indicated that songs shorter than two and a half minutes would stick with the 30 second previews that are the norm today.

CNet says that Apple may have wanted to announce 90-second previews back in early September, but that further negotiations with the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) was necessary to obtain the required license to provide longer free samples.

Apple provided no timeframe for when the new 90 second previews would hit the store. And Australia is unlikely to see the bumped preview time on our iTunes Store until it proves its merit in the US.